Wednesday, September 30, 2009

This would be the year that Reese graduates from medical school. If you are wondering what "The Hop" is it is a nickname I made up for Johns Hopkins, yes that Johns Hopkins. The fighting Blue Jays. Apparently Rian has Reese's future roughly sketched out for him, which will culminate in him becoming a graduate from Hopkins, at a cost of around $158,000. Drop in the Bucket.

Rian also informed me that our son was a huge Tennessee Volunteer fan. I guess things could be worse, like Hogtown. She told me that he would like to go there for his undergraduate studies. Sweet, if you saw the figure from graduate school above I now get to add out of state tuition. I told Reese and his mother that he better be amazingly smart. I see a lot of scholarships in his future. I am not sure where Rian got the idea that our son wants to go to Tennessee, but I think it might have something to do with Peyton Manning and Smokey "but it he a Hound dog" the Blue Tick Coon Hound. I think it might have something to do with the pretty Southern ladies in Knoxville.

Reese is apparently going to become a cardiologist according to Rian, I guess I really don't have an issue with this. Plastic Surgery always seems to be a lucrative field, though. Well enough with my rambling about Reese's future, but I thought that you all should know early so you can make your plans to head to Baltimore for graduation in a few years.

Reese, a quick note from your father - study hard little buddy.

P.S. - Hayley, I am sure you saw the amount of tuition per year at Hopkins so I think Reese living in your basement during school is a definite possibility.

P.S.S. - What are the chances of Peyton Manning and George Clooney ending up in a single blog entry.

Friday, September 25, 2009

The Critters had their 4 month visit today. We are about two weeks behind schedule. The Critters did not enjoy this visit at all. The girls each got three shots, but Reese was the big winner with an extra shot for RSV.

I must say that it is no fun having to hold their little arms down so they don't flail during the shots. Hadley was asleep when they started, let me tell you that was quite a rude awakening for her. We had a lot of the silent cries followed by the outburst and beet red faces. They made it through though and calmed down quickly.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

It appears as though Rian was charging at them with a knife when this photo was taken.

The Critters in their semi-matching outfits. To be clear this does not count as dressing them alike. From left to right: Hadley - Little Ham (the only reason that Hadley got the one with the pig is that her initials spell out HAM, and I find that quite amusing for some reason), Reese - Lucky Duck, and CarCar - Fluffy Bunny. Just to reiterate the point for Rian, this does not count as dressing the Critters alike.

Here are a few photos (I didn't realize that I took so few photos) from the trip to Orlando. The first two are from a photo shoot that Rian did with the Critters at Grandma Barbara's house. The next set of two photos are from our trip to Disney.

A close up of Miss Hadley.

The Critters. Notice that Brother is kickin' the popped collar!

This is obviously the look that Brother uses to get all of the ladies.

Everyone knows that we used to refer to CarCar as "Angry CarCar" due to her look of displeasure most of the time. Since then she has morphed into a super sweet, soft-spoken little girl. But every once in a while her old self comes out. I am not sure what Rian did to prompt this attack but you can be sure that CarCar came with the fury!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Hola everyone, sorry for the delay in posting. We have been a wee bit busy lately.

Well the whole crew hit the road National Lampoon's style and headed toward the Mouse House. I made the executive decision to leave after the 7PM feeding in hopes of a quiet trip to Orlando. A tight space with sleeping babies equals a happy Chris. Unfortunately I forgot to factor in the fact that I worked a full day and would be tired driving at midnight. Long gone are the days of endless college road trips and no sleep. Hell after 10PM my body starts to shut down. Next thing you know you will see me waiting outside of the Village Inn waiting to get my early bird special.

Back to the trip. Hauling Rian and her luggage, three babies who are related to Rian (ie. see amount of luggage), and a dog (who hates to ride in the car no less), is quite a task. We invested in one of those roof top carriers from Sears, you know the X-Cargo (they no longer have the snail on them though). After taking a while to put the rack on the roof (it actually does help to read directions) I had to figure the best way to load it. This meant putting things up there that I could live without in case it flew off the roof on I-75. After loading that, putting the stroller in, load the kids, get the dog, and fit the rest of our belonging in the car, we hit the road.

Four and a half hours later (and many glimpses to see if the roof top carrier was still there) we pulled into Grandma Kate's driveway to drop the dog off.

No crying, just one exhausted driver. We had a great weekend in Orlando, we hit up Baby's R' Us, and the outlets. Rian and I also had an amazing meal at The Ravenous Pig (courtesy of Grandma Kate) on Saturday. Sunday we hit Dexter's for brunch and then had a relaxing day. Monday was another relaxing day until I watched that craptastic FSU-Miami game.

Tuesday we loaded the Critters up and headed to Disney to see Grandma Kate before we dropped Rian off at her conference. We headed to Old Key West to eat at Olivia's. We had a great meal in a private room. All of Grandma Kate's cast members were able to see the Critters.

After that we headed a little further west on I-4 to drop Rian off at her conference. The Critters and I headed back to Grandma Barbara's to rest.

Wednesday-Friday the Critters and I got to hang out all day. We headed over to Grandma Barbara's work and also hit Park Ave. with Grandma Kate for lunch at 310 Park South. Can go to Orlando and not have the club sandwich there.

Saturday was another relaxing day. Rian and I had another date night courtesy of Don. We hit up Palma Maria's. It was a great meal. I can also say that I am glad that I didn't watch the FSU game, although it was comical to me that we were losing to Jacksonville State in the fourth quarter.

Sunday we loaded up the Jeep and headed back to the TLH. Another uneventful drive, this time however it was during daylight hours. Once again the Critters were great in the car. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Well here is my one shameless plug to send out to the blog world. As many of you know Rian is a member of The Junior League of Tallahassee. For those of you who had absolutely no clue, you are probably asking yourself "why is Rian involved with a children's group, I thought she just hit the big 3-0."

For all of you non Junior Leaguers, the Tallahassee League is a wonderful organization that helps out immensely in the local community. One of its biggest focuses are the children of the community, which if you know Rian, this is her soft spot. The League's most recent event that was held is probably my favorite, and there wasn't any food or booze associated, nor did I even get to go. The league brought underprivileged children to Kohls and gave them a set amount of money to spend on new clothing for school. Rian said that she had a blast helping the little guy that she was paired with. This is just one example of the great things that the Junior League of Tallahassee does.

In order for the league to be able to do these wonderful things they must raise money, and this being its 50th anniversary, the League is releasing a new cookbook, "A Thyme to Celebrate."

If anyone is interested in ordering a copy for the ridiculously low price of $26.82 email me at chris.meadows78@yahoo.com. The League will put this money to great use in the community and you will be getting a book with some pretty good recipes.